One-on-one marketing is a hit with Titleist and its fans

If a customer tattoos the company brand on his or her skin — from a marketing perspective, is that considered brand loyalty or brand obsession?

If a customer tattoos the company brand on his or her skin — from a marketing perspective, is that considered brand loyalty or brand obsession?

Even Titleist, the world's No. 1 golf ball maker and a brand that receives quite a lot of customer loyalty, isn't sure.

Titleist launched Team Titleist last year, an online membership program that offers special benefits, such as invitations to golf ball and golf club test panels and advanced product information. Some especially active members even receive free equipment and opportunities to test not-yet-released prototypes, get personal tips from instructors and speak directly with Titleist engineers.

It's one way the company reaches out to its customers and keeps them engaged in its products.

It's also how it found out about the tattoos.

Liz Valicenti and Mike DePaolo, two Acushnet Co. managers charged with overseeing the company's digital activities, said they've received about a half dozen messages from customers who have tattooed the word Titleist somewhere on their body.

One golfer told them he has two, said Valicenti — one on his chest in the position and style of a Titleist shirt logo and another running up his calf.

Although they said tattoos were never part of the plan, the passion they represent for the brand is thrilling.

DePaolo, Team Titleist manager, said the online program's intended goal is to create deeper, more personal relationships with brand fans through meaningful engagement.

It isn't about just collecting fans or emails, or posting information on Facebook and Twitter, he said, it's about using online media to build offline, personal relationships.

"What's really exciting about this initiative is bridging the connection of an online experience to an offline experience," said DePaolo. "To us, this is a really important piece to the puzzle: reaching our loyalists and making that personal connection by delivering a meaningful engagement not just via an online experience, but by creating more opportunities to connect with us and other Titleist enthusiasts in person."

So all Facebook and other posts are considered through the eyes of brand fans.

Valicenti, Titleist's interactive marketing director, said the company uses a "surprise-and-delight" approach to personally connect with fans. The strategy involves giving back to customers who are especially loyal and enthusiastic.

Like those with tattoos.

"Don't you want to just say thank you to them?" agreed a smiling Valicenti.

But passionate golfers don't have to go to such extremes to catch Titleist's attention.

Last September, around the time the company was getting ready for the public launch of its 910 driver series, Valicenti said a hand-picked group of 10 active Team Titleist members received an e-mail invitation to a special event.

The day started with a tour of the company's manufacturing plant in New Bedford, after which golfers were taken to the Manchester Lane Testing Facility in Acushnet to participate in competitions for prizes that included a custom "Team Titleist" stamped WedgeWorks Exclusives wedge.

According to a Titleist blog post, some members thought the invitation had sounded too good to be true. But, Valicenti said, the day held even more surprises for them.

Although not mentioned in the invitation, Team Titleist members were handed Titleist's 910 prototype drivers and allowed to try them out. The drivers had not even been on the retail market, but there was plenty of buzz about the new technology that allows the loft and lie to be independently adjusted by golfers, DePaolo said.

"This was the first time any consumers had had a chance to use them," added Valicenti.

The possibility of participating in events like these can make passionate golfers drool.

"It was an unbelievable day" Team Titleist Member Kevin Yalmokas told the company afterwards. "It was superb."

The engagement levels of Team Titleist members surprised and excited the company.

When Team Titleist asked its members asking them to try out a particular prototype and offer feedback, they didn't just get a few comments in return.

They got dissertations.

"We were getting emails with pages and pages of information," said DePaolo. "It was amazing. People loved it and they felt really included."

Similarly, when they were collecting questions for a webcast featuring R&D staff, hundreds were sent in within a few days. Those who watched the webcast were also sent a special gift in gratitude, Valicenti said.

"They signed in and watched a half-hour webcast. It made sense for us to thank them," she said, explaining that Titleist is focused on one-to-one marketing with the goal of creating a customer for life.

Valicenti said customer engagement measures like these are how Team Titleist tracks its effectiveness.

While the team can't tie its impact directly to sales, the company can estimate success by looking at traffic numbers, unique visitors and awareness of brand, she said.

And there Titleist is "seeing positive trend lines," said Valicenti.

Valicenti was clear that Titleist has been successful primarily because of the support it gets from company leadership.

"I don't think we could have done it without that," she said. "Everybody's been on board."

DePaolo agreed. "Everyone sees the value in what we're doing."

Beth Perdue is the editor of the New England Business Bulletin. To read about these business topics and more, see the New England Business Bulletin on news stands April 1 or go to www.nebulletin.com. To subscribe, e-mail Terry Garcia at tgarcia@s-t.com.